Total Visits

Monday, 12 September 2016

The English are now the 'Natives' in the new British Empire

In his article “The revolt of the natives: Britain and Brexit”, published in Open Democracy, the Left-wing academic, Anthony Barnett writes:-

“The vote for Brexit was a brutally refreshing verdict on the autocratic way in which Britain is governed. It is a matter of attitude, culture and language as well as policy and can be illustrated here with one example. Jonathan Portes was Chief Economist to the Cabinet. He is a serious, well-meaning professional who despairs at the irrationality of Whitehall. He defended immigration in the Observer two years ago by writing that it is “likely to boost the UK economy without doing much, if any, damage to the prospects for native workers”.

He continued, “Immigrants have different skills and experiences to native workers, so they complement rather than substitute for natives, helping raise wages and productivity for everybody”. He quoted a government paper that refers to “native employment outcomes”. Earlier he co-authored a column in the Times with no less a figure than Gus O’Donnell, who as Cabinet Secretary from 2005 to 2011 was the most powerful civil servant in the land. The two of them shared the same insulting terminology, claiming immigrants “increase the incentive for natives to acquire new skills”.

Barnett continues:-

“You can welcome immigrants as people as well as their positive impact while recognising that this language is a repugnant way of referring to the British people. Yet top policy makers regarded such language as normal.”

It is further, he says further evidence that England is now being seen as something like the 'last colony of the British Empire'!

Barnett also goes on to say:-

“It seems that globalisation has not just given a new lease of life to the machinery of the British state; it has also brought into the open its latent contemptuous view of the people. Brexit was not just a revolt of the natives; it can be seen in particular as a revolt of the English against being treated as natives. All successful anti-colonial uprisings have middle class leaderships. The attitude of imperial power is always to regard rebellious upstarts as stupid sheep misled by power-hungry adventurers and publicists.”

Barnett then gives this example:-

“Step forward, Patience Wheatcroft, the Baroness of Blackheath and former Editor-in-Chief of the Wall Street Journal Europe. She proposes that her fellow, so-called peers of the realm should overturn the referendum verdict. (So) her suggestion (is) that a few hundred appointed cronies (should) upturn a decision of the people (I mean, natives). Everything that is disgustingly cosy, self-regarding, privileged, corrupt and unaccountable about the way Britain is governed is represented by the House of Lords. The idea that it should claim a right to override the hoi polloi, shows a complete failure to understand what has happened. Patience Wheatcroft wins the Marie Antoinette prize for obliviousness if she thinks that she and her fellow Ladies and Lords can save Britain in Europe by reversing the referendum. Brexit does not just mean Brexit, it means the tumbrils are out for the Lordships’ house as well.”

8 comments:

Total agreement. These Rich so called Elite need to be taken down a lot of pegs. The government's of Britain in which I put Both houses have been treating themself's to as much as they can at the expense of the General Public.When Britain is finally out of the EU, hopefully it will be a very hard and sudden Exit. The We the British people are going to try and change the Landscape of Politic's. the Peers of the Realm will go along with the Treasonous Monarchy and all her Inbred offspring. They can go anywhere they like as long as it is out of Britain. The the Investigations should start with the VIP Paedophile Ring then the one at the BBC, see what rocks these Slimy scum bags crawl out from under the Rocks. Should not take too long squeeze one hard enough with promises to lessen charges. One will break and spill the bean's. Britain need's to clear out the Rubbish stop any and all Golden Hand shakes. stop these over the top Pension's. Retrospectively as well. Too much Public money is going some where and the Public are not being told. And Ho YES if we get what we want Blair and his Warring Crony's will be in the Dock along with all those who Profited from the Death's of Our Troops, and the Iraqi's and Afghans. This is why the Career Political Class are shitting themselve's they know their time will be up ASAP.

Glad to see that Cameron may be hauled before parliament as well for Libya as Blair is to be for Iraq. It is obvious that he has jumped ship before he gets a mauling. It would be nice to think that Witney, somewhere I know, could have other than a Tory mp; preferably UKIP; but it probably won't happen. It think it may be worth having a go there, Robin.

With all the current fuss about constituency boundaries in England, it is staggering that the over-representation of the Scots is never mentioned. How many voters do all those SNP MPs represent? Not a lot surely.

In the context of the current fuss about the English constituency boundary changes, it is surprising that no-one mentions the over-representation of the Scots. What are the size of those SNP constituencies - I bet a lot smaller than the 75,000 required in England. Plus they have very little genuine reason to be at Westminster anyway, their main activity is interfering in English affairs.

Have just been to Plymouth and was surprised not only by the number of persons of African descent but also it is obvious they have taken their quota of refugees with lots of ladies going around in the rain looking like the Virgin Mary.

Electoral boundaries: someone informed on the subject please help by explaining if the revisions currently proposed have anything to do with further stymying 'minority' parties such as UKIP, TED... and preserving the controlled Left-Right paradigm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law

Duverger's law:". . . a plurality system [first past the post] marginalizes many smaller political parties, resulting in what is known as a two-party system. . . "